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- Beany Brain #55: Rock Stimming and Please Give Me a Sign
Beany Brain #55: Rock Stimming and Please Give Me a Sign
Abigail Munday
August 19, 2025
Beany Brain: loving our jumping-bean brains!
Welcome to this issue of the Beany Brain! I hope today’s newsletter will bounce us up as we contemplate the upsides and challenges of being neurodivergent, a little beauty, some creativity, and just general yeehawesomeness.
Table of Contents
Photo by Abigail Munday
Rock Stimming
I’ve always stimmed but I just didn’t know it.
I mean I didn’t know it was called stimming and I didn’t know I was autistic.
It just felt good and it calmed me down.
Twirling my hair. A lot. (Last week I got a pixie cut and with my hair 15 cm shorter, twirling is not an option anymore unless I want to get an arm cramp. I’m kind of grieving the lack of twirling accessibility. But other than that, my sensory issues around my hair touching my face or blowing on my neck are much better now. And I get a headache if I pull my hair back in any way with a clip or rubber band, so it’s better for it to just be really short. I'm still finding my old long hairs lying around and flying around the house and it's weird, like the Ghost of Hairs Past.)
Rollerskating when I was a kid and teenager. I didn’t know why it soothed me, but it sure did.
Putting stones in my pockets and purse to carry around to rub.
Picking up seashells to explore the texture.
Listening to the same song over and over. Ditto for watching the same movie repeatedly.
Playing with my bottom lip.
Repeating words, phrases, and sounds in my head (internal echolalia).
Cutting up citrus fruit and smelling it over and over. Inhaling the fragrance really calms me down. I know lavender is the traditional calming scent, but for me it’s fresh citrus.
Movement/balance: hand flapping, rocking, swinging, jumping, spinning
Sight: watching spinning toys, patterns, glitter, colours or lights (possibly making the light flicker); repeated blinking
Hearing: listening to the same song on repeat; tapping ears; repeating sounds, words or phrases (known as ‘echolalia’- some sources consider this to be a form of communication)
Touch: hair twirling, scratching, rubbing, touching fabrics
Smell and taste: sniffing, licking or chewing objects.
Some stims are more noticeable than others. For example, flapping your hands to express joy is more noticeable than twirling your hair or a pen to regulate anxiety, or repeating words of phrases in your head.
Autistic women and girls may stim in less noticeable and/or more socially accepted ways than autistic men and boys. This can be a reason why people don’t notice they are autistic, which can affect their ability to get an autism diagnosis.
It was so sweet of a friend to bring me the above stones back from beaches in Niigata, Japan, and Hong Kong recently. She knows me well.
Stimming is short for self-stimulating behavior.
For autistic folks like me, stimming works for self-regulation and relaxation. When my anxious brain is in motion (let’s face it—that’s often) a good stone to rub or my colorful circular magnets to play with can work wonders.
Now pardon moi while I go look for my magnets.
I can’t help myself—I just have such a magnetic personality.
Ha Ha Haiku
A new section for Beany Brain, and we’ll see how it goes. My aim is to share a funny haiku with you every week in every newsletter, whether it’s one of my own or one I curate for you. HA. Ha. Haiku.
Robert Roberson / The Innocence Project
Innocent Autistic Man on Death Row
The 8th Amendment Project is asking for signatures to petition the state of Texas and to ask the authorities there to rethink the upcoming execution of Robert Roberson, an innocent autistic man on death row.
Here’s the wording of the petition, and at the bottom I will link to the petition for you to sign.
Robert Roberson is an innocent man facing execution on October 16, 2025 in Texas for a crime that never occurred. He recently filed two motions in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) to try to stop his execution. If Mr. Roberson’s execution is not stayed, he will be the first person executed in the United States for a conviction obtained using the now widely debunked ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ hypothesis.
No court has yet reviewed the mountain of evidence proving that the tragic 2002 death of Mr. Roberson’s chronically ill toddler, Nikki, resulted from illness, medical error, and accident, none of which was Mr. Roberson’s fault.
In 2002, Mr. Roberson’s two-year old daughter, Nikki, was sick with a high fever and undiagnosed pneumonia when she suffered a short fall from bed. Doctors had prescribed her Phenergan, a powerful medication that is no longer approved for children Nikki’s age and in her condition because of its respiratory-suppressing effects. She was also prescribed Codeine, a narcotic, not recommended for anyone under age eighteen. Mr. Roberson took Nikki to the emergency room, but hospital staff didn’t know of his undiagnosed autism. They misinterpreted his affect and subdued reaction to his daughter’s grave condition as a suspicious lack of emotion. The police and prosecutors similarly rushed to judgment and, after Nikki tragically died, Mr. Roberson was prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to death under the now-discredited Shaken Baby Syndrome hypothesis.
Mr. Roberson has spent 22 years on death row for a crime that never happened. We are calling on all of the relevant Texas authorities to intervene to stop this execution and prevent a grave miscarriage of justice.
Please sign the petition with me. Thank you.
And here’s more about his case and about his daughter from The Innocence Project.
Photo by Abigail Munday
Yeehawesome!
Yeehawesome! is a happy-brain roundup in each issue of Beany Brain. What’s happening that’s good in brain land? What’s bringing me joy?
I joined a fun Facebook group called Things with Faces, and the above photo was my first submission. Do you see it?
A 2017 video from The Guardian about a rock band made up of autistic people called The Autistix.
Stuart Duncan, a dad from Ontario with an autistic son, didn’t like the way players were interacting with each other on Minecraft. So he created a Minecraft server for autistic players called Autcraft more than 10 years ago and it’s still going strong.
Another dad story: A father in Florida now owns and runs three car wash branches and about 80% of their employees are autistic, many of whom have received the training, done a great job, and have now gone on to other jobs in hospitality, car maintenance, etc. They use color coding and all sorts of tools to help their employees.
Beany Brownie Points and Extra Bonus Funniness
Wonderful Wednesday
Wonderful Wednesday was a day once a year in college when they would suddenly and surprisingly call off all classes and we’d play all day. The cafeteria provided special fun food and we’d do stuff outside like slip ‘n slides and jello wrestling in sumo suits. This segment of Beany Brain is dedicated to that memory of silliness and fun—no words, just a photo from the week that I’ve taken or found that reminds me to let the joy in. Since Beany Brain is published on Wednesday every week (at least, Wednesday in Japan), I hope you enjoy this Wonderful Wednesday.
Photo by Abigail Munday
Today’s Beany-full Summary:
Stimming is short for self-stimulating behavior. It’s repetitive actions that calm autistic people down.
Robert Roberson is an innocent autistic man on death row in Texas. You can sign a petition here.
Go forth in Beany joy. What will help you feel yeehawesome this week?
Thank you for reading this installment of Beany Brain! You’re very welcome to hop on by any old time.
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